Ben Packard is back investigating a home invasion ending in murder in Sandy Lake, MN. Things aren't as they initially seem, and after someone takes a shot at Packard and escapes by boat across the lake, the questions multiply. Gambling habits, complicated relationships, and small-town politics swirl as Packard works to solve the mystery of who killed Bill. And what about the handsome co-owner of the new mico-brewery in town? Can Packard take a chance on a relationship again? All in good time.

I'm a big fan of Detective Packard. He's sharp and determined with an ambivalence and vulnerability that brings authenticity to his character. The writing is perfectly paced and the cast of small-town players is colorful. The plot has as many layers as Packard's past, and I can't wait for the next novel to discover what secrets have been hidden from him by someone he trusted.

Read this if you enjoy a well-paced, muti-layered mystery thriller with great characters and an LGBTQ MC. If you haven't yet experienced the first Ben Packard novel, And There He Kept Her, go grab a copy to catch up then dive into Where the Dead Sleep. You'll be glad you did!

Ben Packard is back, and the small town of Sandy Lake is on edge once again, when Bill Sandersen is found shot to death in his bed.

After a life spent chasing money and breaking hearts, it’s less a matter of finding a suspect than somehow narrowing down the crowd to determine who finally snapped; and when it comes to poking around in ancient small-town secrets, Packard is more than qualified.

The second in a series is where I really decide if I am going to follow it or not – and luckily for me, Joshua Moehling has taken a promising debut, and solidified its promise with a follow-up that is not only a great book, but a very promising sign of the series to come. It’s such a balancing act with procedurals – you have to have a book that stands on its own, but that moves the longer-running elements ahead too. Preferably there’s enough momentum to be interesting, but without either going too far or not far enough; with the one you end up with a series that throws too much at the reader in each instalment, while the other way ends up losing steam and becoming repetitive and slow. Where the Dead Sleep, though, absolutely nails the balance; Packard is settling into his new life here, even as a new mystery promises to keep him using his detection skills to their utmost.

That balance works in other areas of the book, too. Events are exciting and the mystery compelling, but still felt like they could be taking place in the real world. Packard and the people of Sandy Lake that we’re getting to know are great characters; they make me look forward to getting to read the next in the series. And while Where the Dead Sleep wraps up into a book that could stand alone by the end, there’s some hints there that future books will be very interesting indeed. I’ll be here for it, and in the meantime will be recommending these books to every procedural fan I know.

4-1/2 stars rounded up to 5. I'm so glad acting Sheriff/Deputy Ben Packard is back! The mystery of who shot Bill Sandersen is complicated and at times I found it hard to keep the details straight. The similar names of the wives didn't help. In the end Ben's attention to detail brings the shooter and the truth to light. I found the computer forensic details from Suresh to be fascinating and I would love to see more of this in future investigations. This book is a lot of set up for book 3 in the series, with a lot of foreshadowing and introduction of future villains. I'm not at all upset about it as I like the way Ben's mind works, and I like his relationships and the way he works with other members of the Sheriff's Office. There were several interactions with his coworkers that made me laugh out loud!

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to #netgalley for granting me an ARC on this novel.
While I really enjoyed the book, I really wish I had known there was a first book to this story. You don't necessarily have to read the first one to get into this story, but I think it would have helped to know the protagonist a bit.
This novel has a lot of drama and suspense, I highly recommend it!

This second book featuring Deputy Ben Packard, set again in rural Minnesota, was really engaging (I read 3/4 of it in a day!) and I am really hoping that this series continues. There is a wide variety of things happening in this one- from the murder that Packard is investigating, an unexpected election for sheriff that Packard is reluctant to get involved with, and the dynamics of being a gay cop in a nosy, conservative town. I appreciated the timeline of this investigation and that it takes time to figure out the suspects. If you've read the first in this series, this one feels somewhat less intense. This is a really well written story and a series I'm definitely recommending.

Wonderful book. Didn’t realized that this was a second book in a series. Now I must read the first one. I like Sheriff Packard. This book got me at the first page and I couldn’t put it down. So many different characters to keep you guessing. A husband is killed one night. He’s married to two wealth spoil sisters, separate times of cost. He goes thru one’s money and on to the next one. Their family is a nightmare. And how a pin that their mother wore, would weave this mystery even more. I like the way this book ended. Cause they way it ended you know there will be a next story. And it involves the death of Packard’s brother, when they were small.
I belong to two book clubs and I will be recommending this book to both.

I really like books with small town secrets and this was a good one. I find the politics of small towns so interesting. This book did a really good job of showing that thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. Like a lot of reviews I saw I wish I had started with the first book. This was definitely a good read but just a little confusing at times due to not reading the first book. Still recommend

This is the second installment in Joshua Moehling's brilliant Detective Ben Packard series. I gave the first book "And There He Kept Her" an enthusiastic 4.5 stars, and "Where the Dead Sleep" definitely lived up to my expectations. While you wouldn't have to read the first book to enjoy this story, it does continue Ben's acting sheriff exploits as he investigates the next murder in town as well as his ongoing personal life story from the first installment. Ben is a sharp detective, but he is also relatable in his personal reflections and ghosts from his past. He is just so human and likable. He is also a LGBTQ+ character where that aspect of his life just feels like that... an aspect of his life that is part of him but is not what fully defines him. He is our brother, our son, our coworker, our neighbor, our friend. He is humanity and ethics and moral conscious all wrapped up in a snowy Minnesota bow. I just have to see where book 3 takes him!

4.5 stars!

Thank you to #NetGalley and Sourcebooks - Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I wish I would have read the first book in this series but still enjoyed this one quite a bit.

A small town. A murder. A lot of family drama. This makes for a great read that keeps you guessing. A true mystery here and I'm thinking there will be a third in this series. I will try to read the first one. This one is a page turner and I loved how this author introduced each character.

Very good for anyone who loves a good murder mystery.

Thank you #NetGalley for this ARC.

Four stars.

The second installment of the Detective Packard series is so good! I like this police procedural series, because it keeps me guessing and I haven’t been able to guess right yet! You can tell by the ending that there will be a third book, if not more and I’ll be reading them!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I am a sucker for series and have just found a new favorite! I appreciate when a book can be read as a stand alone (like this one) but is part of a larger series (this is book 2) so you feel like you get to know the characters. Deputy Ben is charming, a little mysterious and a good detective. I love that you learn about some of what is going on with his life as he works to solve who killed Bill. Bill is a gambler who likes easy money and has married 2 rich sisters (he left the first one when her trust fund ran out...) There is more than one person in town who could have wanted Bill dead...

I couldn't put this one down once I started it and I look forward to more Deputy Ben books to come.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

I noticed after receiving this book it was book two in the series. I decided to give it a try and see if I missed much.
I found myself unable to concentrate because I felt like I was missing something.

Although this book had high reviews, I do not discourage reading this series, just start witht he first book.

Ben Packard is back in Where the Dead Sleep. He is still acting sheriff and now trying to find out who killed Bill. On his latest murder investigation Ben is stumpped to why Bill was murdered and his wife Carrie is keeping her own secrets at bay. Carrie and her sisters Mary and Sherry are not the closest of sisters and one of them holds the key to what happened that night. This one will hook you from the very begining and leaves you wondering what comes next for Ben as he is no longer the acting sheriff.

Compelling, chilling, and kept me engaged. I loved how the story built suspense. I’ve been reading more crime/procedural s lately and this was a great one that I will be recommending.

My only negative is that I wish I had started the series from the beginning. I read several reviews after that said the same thing. I hope to pick up the first book soon!

A very well written police procedural about a murder that is much more confusing that it looks at the onset. Acting Sheriff Ben Packard is going to have to delve into this small town many twisty secrets if he's going to find out who actually shot Bill Sandersen. It seems like just a robbery gone wrong, but the details aren't adding up and Packard is going to have to dig through toxic relationships, family secrets, and small town drama if he's going to find out who caused Bill's death that night.

I didn't realize that until a bit into the book that it was actually a sequel, and while I'm sure I would have enjoyed small details even more having read the first, this book is also excellent on it's own. I had no trouble quickly getting to know both Ben Packard and the small town he lives in.

The cliff hanger was excellent and I went from never having heard of this author to ravenously waiting for him to write the third book!


TW: Murder, adultery, toxic family relationships, alcoholism

I’m late on reviewing this because I wanted to read the first book in the series first. It wasn’t important that I did but at least I didn’t have that one ruined by reading it second.

I enjoyed this as well. Maybe not as much as the first one but I’m hooked on this series and look forward to the next one!

Acting Sheriff Ben Packard is trying to enjoy the long Labor Day weekend when a call from dispatch comes in, informing him that a fresh case has come to disrupt his day off. There’s been a homicide in one of the nicer suburban homes of Sandy Lake County, with a man shot dead in his bed.

The victim, Bill Sanderson, was pretty well known around the county as a good time guy. Bill was one of those dudes whose main preoccupations in life were drinking and partying despite being well into middle age. Someone had come through the sliding glass door of his bedroom, shot him twice and killed him. His wife Carrie had been asleep in her own bedroom upstairs. She tells the officers that she’d been awoken by a gunshot, and had come downstairs to find her husband beyond saving.

Ben spent much of his childhood in Sandy Lake but only recently moved back full time, so his staff has to fill him in on all the gossip regarding Bill’s rather sordid love life. Carrie is actually Bill’s second wife, though she had been his high school sweetheart. Scandalously, he had dumped her to marry her older sister Sherri, who had come into the trust fund their wealthy dad set up for them much earlier than Carrie had. After thirty years or so of living the high life, Bill and Sherri finally scraped the bottom of their bank accounts. They’d divorced and Bill had moved on to the sister who still had her wealth intact.

Juicy as this information is – and rich as it is in providing motive for murder – Ben knows enough to tread lightly around the feelings of the recently bereft. Still, he has to ask questions. When he asks Carrie why she’d taken Bill back, she responds:

QUOTE
“Have you ever been lonely, Detective?”

Packard looked away. He was alone most of the time. Lonely rarely but sometimes deeply. He thought of loneliness as existential, but being a loner was not something he wanted to build an identity around the way he’d seen others do. He’d decided, and reaffirmed again after moving to Sandy Lake, that the key to being alone but not lonely was to make the most of what he had and not romanticize what he didn’t. That thinking had worked for him so far. He would continue to believe it until it didn’t.
END QUOTE

Loneliness didn’t seem to be a problem for Bill, however, who had a very wide social circle, or at least one a heck of a lot wider than the more closed off Ben’s. Trouble is, no one in this circle seems to have a real motive for murdering Bill. Sure, he was a loser, but his schemes seemed mostly harmless, until they abruptly weren’t.

The investigation is briefly put on hold when Stan Shaw, the ailing elected sheriff who hired Ben to step into his shoes, finally succumbs to cancer. He’s barely been buried when everyone and their cousin begins bugging Ben about running for sheriff himself. This is exacerbated by the town council’s decision to hold an election in November instead of allowing Ben to serve out the rest of Stan’s term.

Ben can understand the town council’s reasoning. What he can’t understand is why so many people are so determined that he should campaign for the position:

QUOTE
Two things had to be true if you wanted to be sheriff: you had to want the job and you had to be electable. Packard was questionable about the first one and doubtful about the second. Why would anyone vote for the new guy in town? The new gay guy, more specifically. And why would he want to give up being a detective and take on the bureaucratic job of sheriff full time? Meetings and budgets and personnel issues, your future employment tied to the whims of the voting public.

No thanks.
END QUOTE

Unexpected twists will soon have him reconsidering his stance, even as unexpected leads come to light in the Sanderson homicide. Ben’s investigations turn up more corpses, new and old, as someone becomes angry enough to fire a potshot at Ben himself. But does this attempted assassination have anything to do with Bill’s murder? Could it somehow be related to the mystery Ben originally came back to Sandy Lake to solve?

When I got the chance to review this novel, I practically leapt out of my chair to say yes. I loved the first book in the series, And There He Kept Her, with its clever plot, wells of empathy and unusual hero. As I read the last few pages of this novel, I realized that my right hand was involuntarily clawing at the air, reaching already for the sequel. Where The Dead Sleeps actually improves on its predecessor, boasting even tighter writing and plotting, while losing none of its sense of humor or thoughtfulness. I can’t wait to read where Joshua Moehling brings us readers, as well as his terrific protagonist, next!

Thank you to Libro.fm and the publisher for providing me review copies. All opinions are my own.

I made the mistake of not reading the first book. Though that did not distract from the plot (there's nothing much you need to know about the past case at all) but there's just something about learning about the main MC starting with the first book.

This was a police procedural, with a murder mystery at its center. The twisty case was a fun perk of this book. I would have not put together what has happened or why. So thats a big plus. The problem for me was the big political side of this story. Running for sheriff, running a campaign, shoving people under the bus in order to get a position, etc. It was just such a distraction for me, and I really did not care. I'm sure that is a build up for the future of the detective, but still.

Another problem I ran into was the narrator. The fact that this was a woman narrating a male detective and all of the other POVs. And the fact that there seems like there are no chapter breaks in between, so when the POV switches, you have no idea it has happened. It just keeps going. The narrator didn't do a good enough job for me to distinguish who is talking, till the plot shows you who it is.

It is a good book, and I definitely will read the first book now to understand this detective better, especially after learning so much personal stuff about the detective.

While this case wasn’t my favorite, I still love the main character Ben Packard and his life in general. This can be read as a stand-alone, but I highly recommend reading the first book of the series. I am already really looking forward to the next book in the series!